Someone had suggested to me in a previous post to see about seeking an outside evaluation. Who would do this kind of thing? A psychologist, the pediatrician? Thank you in advance.
Nancy3
Try calling your insurance company and saying you think your child needs a neuro-psychological evaluation. You may find out a lot of information this way, including whether you need a referral (often this is a self-referral now), where to go (your insurance companies clinics that handle this type of eval), etc.
Try to phrase everything in physical terms rather than educational terms. If your say your child has difficulty learning to read, you are likely to be “brushed off” because they would see your child as having an educational problem, not a medical one. If you have observed signs of CAPD, however, you could say that your son seems to have auditory processing problems. If he has difficulty with writing, you can mention grapho-motor problems. If he’s wobbly on a bike, you can mention problems with balance. When you phrase problems in physical or medical terms, the insurance company is much more likely to see the problems as physical or medical in nature. Dysgraphia, for example, is considered a neurological disorder and therefore covered by insurance.
Often a neuro-psych will team up with an educational psych to do a full battery of tests. The educational psych can do IQ and achievement testing, but the neuro-psych can do much more specific testing to identify underlying problems. Usually an educational psych tells you pretty much what you have already observed, while a neuro-psych can give you insight into why the child is having problems.
Nancy
Re: Who does "outside" evaluations?
Even using a neuropsychologist doesn’t guarantee that insurance will pay for the testing. Last fall/winter my DS was tested and the insurance paid about $600, I paid $1800. Better than nothing but I don’t know of any insurance that covers educational testing. The insurance company will tell that the school system should be doing the testing and the school system may tell you that, in their opinon, testing is not needed.
I found my neuropsychologist through my insurance company. NOT by calling them up but by going through their providor list and looking for a neuropsychologist that worked with children and then calling them up and getting preauthorization. I emphasized that my DS was having anxiety and behavioral issues to get the referral.
HTH
oy...
Wow - $1800? There’s now way I could possibly pay that! I will have to make some calls to find out what is covered. Thanks for the info.
Some of the testing can be done by an educator (or an “educational therapist”) but for the full battery you would want at least a psychologist, and quite possibly a neuropsychologist (and that can be easier to get put into medical enough terminology for insurance to pay for; if it’s just educational then it’s less likely).
I know that when I taught private school sped, I knew which doc’s reports I thought were the best & which weren’t. The International Dyslexia Association or the Learning Disabilities Association branches in your area might also have a list — you do want somebody who has experience with the specific issues you have to work with.